Fashion History Museum

The Fashion History Museum could not accomplish its programs events and exhibition installations without the help of its volunteer core. In addition the Board of Directors devote many hours in stewarding the organization guiding strategic growth helping at events and providing governance and expertise in each of their fields. The FHM is very fortunate that a conservator has devoted almost weekly visits to take on preserving items in the collection that require care for sharing with the public on display or for researchers to study them by appointment. Collectively 26 volunteers donated 6 630 hours of their time in 2024 to create the best year to date for community outreach on-site visitation and activity engagement. This kind of dedication goes uncelebrated on a financial statement for the monetary value impact of supporting the mission of the museum but we deeply appreciate the considerable talent and enthusiasm of our volunteers. 2024’s main feature exhibitions on-site were: 300 Years of Fashion (refreshed rotation from the permanent collection); Fibre to Fashion; Hat-ology A Lexicon of Hat Styles: Nuclear Fashion Advertising Fashion during the Baby Boom: Only Fans an exhibition of Fans from the 1600s to present day. Monthly on-line meetings of the FHM book club ‘Tailored Titles Ink’ not only discussed selections of historical based fiction and non-fiction but additional context research from the FHM library and archive materials provides an understanding of the fashions worn in the era in which the book was set. The monthly FHM e-newsletter lists upcoming books and often the opportunity to meet authors from across the globe.

A temporary exhibition of the 2024 Upcycling Challenge competition was displayed for public voting along with an event in June to select a winner for addition to the annual FHM’s History in the Making Contemporary Canadian Design permanent collection. The participants in the competition were celebrated for their creativity in recycling clothes materials and building sustainability awareness. Generous sponsorship for this program was given by Coppley in Hamilton Ontario who donated off-cut remnant textiles saving them from landfill. Activities aside from public viewing of the exhibitions and access for tour groups have included several events or special programming offerings. Amongst them a Mad Hatter Tea Party in March to launch the Hat-logy Lexicon exhibition. Bob Haven returned from Kentucky to conduct workshops on speciality beading. Co-founders of the Fashion History Museum Jonathan Walford and Kenn Norman gave an illustrated lecture of an extended survey of London UK museums and collections of historic clothing shared with an enthusiastic crowd of fashionistas. ‘The Fashion History Museum: Our First Twenty Years’ was released with a book signing to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the FHM. The book is thoroughly illustrated with the background of establishing the museum building a collection and the journey to create a venue with programming workshops a research centre conservation labs and a growing engagement with both Canadian and international audiences through public galleries with an array of over 300 years of fashion on display. The book promoted the museum greatly during the difficult time of a sudden municipal defunding from the City of Cambridge which had previously covered the rent of a city-owned building as part of the FHM’s core operations. Throughout the year visitors and supporters advocated for the City of Cambridge to reverse their decision but to no avail.